Two seats on the West Bend School Board will be up for grabs in an at-large election on April 3.

Joining incumbent Monte Schmiege on the ballot are three challengers, Chris Zwygart, Kurt Rebholz and Mary Weigand. Leaving the board is Tim Stellmacher, who was appointed to the board mid-term and did not file for re-election.

The West Bend Current asked the candidates about their background. That interview material is presented below in the order that the candidates will appear on the ballot. Continue reading →

Monte Schmiege

Well, I have three years of experience in the district. I think it is important to have some experience on the board rather than new members every single year because it does take some time to get acclimated to the business of the school board and what it’s all like, what the responsibilities are, what you should be doing and what you shouldn’t be doing. So it takes quite a bit of time to get acquainted to all of that.Continue reading →

Monte Schmiege

Seventy-five percent of the money goes towards staffing so that is a big component of that and then you’ve got a component which would be for construction materials and all of that. The district is putting 1.4 million dollars into retaining the school grounds. Those are the primary ones and we also have debt that we have to pay for.Continue reading →

Monte Schmiege

That’s an interesting question because I have a different opinion on that. Some people will say that we need to leave that to the experts and I don’t necessarily believe that. If we had policies or some way to describe what curriculum should look like that would be one thing, but we really don’t. And things change so much that it is difficult to do that. I think the board’s role is oversight. But I worked with administration to update our policy to allow the board to approve standards and curriculum and this is modeled after what Green Bay does, as a matter of fact. And the board is also responsible by law and action in August to authorize a list of board-approved standards so there is a precedent of the board approving standards. Continue reading →

When the Blood Center of Wisconsin asked for help, WBHS anatomy students answered the call

By Priyanka Trivedi, Current Staff

As southeastern Wisconsin is running low on blood, the West Bend High Schools’ anatomy classes are coming to the rescue.

After Slinger High School dropped out of their annual blood drive due to construction at their school, West Bend science teachers David Clark and Kara Petzold decided to create a blood drive revolving around the anatomy classes they teach. Each student in anatomy class is responsible for bringing at least one person to donate blood, taking over Slinger High School’s obligation of donating at least 100 pints of blood to the Blood Center of Wisconsin. Continue reading →

After seven years of performances at the Masonic Lodge, the West Bend Theatre Company is moving its annual production of “A Christmas Carol” to the West Bend High Schools.

By joining with WBHS, the producers hope the show will become an annual fundraiser for high school students. Fifty percent of the proceeds from “A Christmas Carol” will benefit WBHS choir students by allowing them to travel and produce high-level musicals and performances. Both the directors and students participating in the performance are excited to see how the show will turn out now that it has been moved to the high school. Continue reading →

Two conference rooms at West Bend High Schools have been renamed after two former principals.

Mary Skalecki and Patrick Gardon were both honored by having conference rooms inside West Bend High Schools named after them in the fall of 2016. The Skalecki conference room is located outside the main office while the Gardon conference room is in the attendance area.

“The conference rooms dedicated are the two most visible conference rooms,” said Ralph Schlass, a current assistant principal who worked with both Gardon and Skalecki. Continue reading →